


Parsley and Acorns

by imaginary_golux



Series: Fractured Fairy Tales [19]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, F/M, Fluff, Minor Character Death, Rapunzel Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 13:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12985365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_golux/pseuds/imaginary_golux
Summary: Rey has been raised in a tower. Finn is a prince out wandering. Falling in love is pretty much inevitable.Beta by my wonderful Best Beloved, Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw.





	Parsley and Acorns

Once upon a time there was a widow woman who found that before her husband died he had left her with child; and as she waxed greater with each month she discovered that she desired nothing so strongly as parsley, and could bear to eat nothing else. And so she ate up all the parsley she could buy or grow, until at last in all the town where she lived there was none save in the garden of the ogre Unkar Plutt, who dwelled on the outskirts of the town. So at last the widow woman screwed her courage to the sticking place and ventured by night into the ogre’s garden, and there picked as much parsley as she could carry away. And for two nights she escaped without notice; but on the third night the ogre awaited her, and catching her up by the arm cried, “It is not wise to steal from an ogre; indeed, it is long and long since I had a fine meal.”

“Nay, do not eat me,” cried the widow woman, “but name what I may give you for my freedom, and it is yours.”

“Promise me the child you bear, and I shall set you free, and give you as much parsley as it pleases you to eat,” said the ogre, and in despair the widow woman did so.

So at last the widow woman was brought to childbed, and bore a little daughter as lovely as a ray of sunshine, and so she named the child Rey. For seven years she kept her daughter beside her, ignoring her promise to the ogre; but at last one day the child happened to encounter the ogre whilst out playing, and the ogre said to her, “Remind your mother of her promise; for I have not forgotten it.”

These words the child Rey brought to her mother, and in great fear and distress her mother said to her, “Well, I have had you longer than I thought I should; go you to the ogre and say to him, ‘Take that which you promised,’ and then do all that he bids you.”

So the child went again to the ogre and bore him her mother’s words, and at once the ogre took her and bore her away to a tower with no doors, but only a single high window, and locked her there within. And by his arts the ogre made it so that her hair grew as long and thick as a hawser, and by that rope he would climb to the window when he brought her food.

So for ten years Rey dwelled in the tower, and often and again she attempted to escape, for she missed her mother and the freedom of the town most bitterly; but there was around the tower an enchantment which caged her there, so that she could not climb from the window nor leap nor slide along her own rope-thick hair, but was kept utterly imprisoned. So in her misery young Rey would often sit in the window, as close to freedom as she could press herself, and sew and sing and sigh over her captivity, and dream of being as free as the birds who flew past her, and which she made shift to befriend, until at last she had a great many who would come to her hand and eat from it; and her favorite was a little orange parrot she called Beebee, for the noises it made.

Now one day the prince of that land was out hunting and happened to pass near the tower, and heard the captive girl singing; and in great curiosity he followed the sound until he happened upon the tower, and gazed in wonder at the lovely girl imprisoned therein. “Hail, gracious lady,” he called to her, “may I have leave to draw near and speak with you?”

“Come near, by all means,” called Rey eagerly, “for I have no one to speak to but the ogre who keeps me here, and would fain have other companions.”

So the prince made shift to climb a tree, until he was near enough that they could speak without yelling, and told her his name - which was Finn - and whence he came, and at her eager questioning he told her also many things about the city where he dwelled, and the laws and customs of his kingdom, and anything else he could think of to relate, for he found her a very good audience indeed. And when at last night fell, and he must perforce begone, he promised to return again the next day, at Rey’s eager urging, and indeed he did so. So for many days he came to speak with her, and learned to love her quick mind and eager curiosity, and she in her turn learned to love his gentle heart and boundless courage, and they found in each other’s company more joy than they had ever dreamed to find.

At last one day Rey said to him, “I cannot escape from this tower, for there is a magic which binds me here, but there is no restriction upon you; do you climb my hair, then, and come to visit me, for surely my tower room is far more comfortable than that tree.”

“Indeed, surely it is,” said Finn, laughing, and made shift at once to climb the ladder of her hair and join her in her tower, and with exceeding joy they embraced each other and made merry, and many were the kisses that they shared. But alas, in the forest that day was a certain trader by the name of Teedo, who was a confidant of the ogre Unkar Plutt, and he went at once to the ogre and told him that his prisoner had found a lover.

“That is nothing to me,” said the ogre, “for she is imprisoned forever in the tower, unless by some means she should find the magic acorns which carry the spell; but they are locked away from her in the tower’s attic, and she cannot go to them. So let her have her little lover, for as long as I permit it; she is mine yet, and always will be.”

Now the parrot Beebee had been perched on the roof of the ogre’s house and heard all of this, and at once it flew to the captive Rey, and repeated all that it had heard; so that the next day when her prince returned, she bade him go at once into the attic and find her the acorns which imprisoned her. This Finn did with a great good will, and finding the precious things bore them at once to his beloved; and as soon as they lay within her hand, all the spells the ogre had placed upon her were entirely broken, and she found that she was free to flee the tower.

So taking the acorns and the faithful parrot Rey and Finn fled at once from the tower; but the trader Teedo saw them going, and hastened to the ogre’s house, crying, “Your captive has escaped!” Then the ogre was exceedingly wroth, and sped after the fleeing lovers, far faster than any mortal could run.

Then Rey, seeing the ogre approaching, took up one of the acorns and flung it behind her, and at once it became a great dark forest of close-set trees, and the ogre had to stop and go back to his house for an axe, and Rey and Finn gained many miles; but at last the ogre managed to chop his way through the forest, and began to close the distance again.

And when he was so near they could feel his breath, Rey took the second acorn and flung it behind her, and it turned at once into a great lake as wide as a sea, and the ogre had to stop and go back to build himself a raft to cross it, so that Rey and Finn gained many miles again; but at last the ogre made his way across, and drew near to them yet again.

Then Rey took up the third acorn, and cast it behind her, and it became a great fire as tall as the clouds, and devoured the ogre entirely, so that not even ash remained; and so Rey and Finn were delivered from the ogre’s wrath.

Then Finn brought his beloved to his parents’ castle, and she was made exceeding welcome; and at length he begged her to make him the happiest man in the world by allowing him the honor of her hand in marriage; and Rey replied at once that it was his for the asking, and her heart as well into the bargain.

So they were married as soon as it could be arranged, and the wedding party went on for three days and three nights without stopping, and all that land rejoiced that the prince had found a wife so well suited to him.

And in time Finn and Rey became the king and queen of that land, and ruled it wisely and well, and rejoiced always in their love for each other; and if they have not died, well, they are ruling there still.

**Author's Note:**

> I am imaginarygolux on tumblr.


End file.
